So I'm an aspiring tech and I would like to know if my method for troubleshooting is correct. I have a co-worker who dropped his laptop while running. He complains that it now hangs when the GUI loads. His disk drive isn't a SSD, so I would assume he caused a head crash on his disk. I'm thinking he now has some bad sectors. My first move would be to boot safe mode, than run CHKDSK with the R switch. Does this sound about right?
Dropped Laptop now freezes at GUI
- Thread starter C3izio
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Re: DROPPED LAPTOP NOW FREEZES AT GUI
Sounds like you might be doing this for homework, but I'll confirm that yes, that's one of the first things you'll want to do. However, if the drive is damaged in some way, you do run the risk of completely killing it by running a chkdsk. It would best to backup anything important not already backed up before doing anything else with the hard drive (either by sticking the drive in another machine and accessing it via that machine's OS, or a Linux Live CD).
Sounds like you might be doing this for homework, but I'll confirm that yes, that's one of the first things you'll want to do. However, if the drive is damaged in some way, you do run the risk of completely killing it by running a chkdsk. It would best to backup anything important not already backed up before doing anything else with the hard drive (either by sticking the drive in another machine and accessing it via that machine's OS, or a Linux Live CD).
Re: DROPPED LAPTOP NOW FREEZES AT GUI
Yami you got me. Guilty as charged. I'm feverishly studying for my A+. Unfortunately said co-worker has been rather elusive as of late, so I haven't been able to get in touch with him (think he has the flu). I'm glad to know my troubleshooting method was sound. One quick thought, since I can't get to the desktop, if I remember correctly a corrupted EXPLORER.EXE could be the cause too, right? If that's the case perhaps I should boot into safe mode and attempt to repair that file from command prompt, correct? Thanks for the back-up tip. That was definitely going to be my first course of action.
Yami you got me. Guilty as charged. I'm feverishly studying for my A+. Unfortunately said co-worker has been rather elusive as of late, so I haven't been able to get in touch with him (think he has the flu). I'm glad to know my troubleshooting method was sound. One quick thought, since I can't get to the desktop, if I remember correctly a corrupted EXPLORER.EXE could be the cause too, right? If that's the case perhaps I should boot into safe mode and attempt to repair that file from command prompt, correct? Thanks for the back-up tip. That was definitely going to be my first course of action.
Re: DROPPED LAPTOP NOW FREEZES AT GUI
Hey thanks Thomas. Come to find out, the drive is toasted. Good thing I backed it up ('cause you know the vast majority of folks don't do this themselves). A little swap-a-roo with a new drive and a fresh Windows 7 install and he's back in business. Thanks for the input guys, it's always nice to reaffirm your troubleshooting methods are sound, especially being somewhat of a newb and being a little self-conscious about my abilities.
Hey thanks Thomas. Come to find out, the drive is toasted. Good thing I backed it up ('cause you know the vast majority of folks don't do this themselves). A little swap-a-roo with a new drive and a fresh Windows 7 install and he's back in business. Thanks for the input guys, it's always nice to reaffirm your troubleshooting methods are sound, especially being somewhat of a newb and being a little self-conscious about my abilities.
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